Jaguar Land Rover is likely to confirm the dramatic revival in British car
making this week when it unveils record pre-tax profits of more than £1.5bn.

The luxury car maker is expected to post profits of between £1.5bn and £1.6bn for the year to March 31, up from a record £1.1bn last year.

The increase is because of surging demand for its cars in Asia and the success of the Range Rover Evoque.

The results, issued with figures from JLR's parent company Tata Motors on Tuesday, are likely to show that China is now a bigger market for the car maker than the UK.

The profits, bigger than the £1.1bn posted by engineer Rolls-Royce for 2011, are further good news for the UK car industry after General Motors confirmed it would invest in its Ellesmere Port site in Cheshire rather than close it.

More than £4bn of investment has been committed to the UK by car makers in the last 12 months and the country is exporting more cars than it imports for the first time since 1976. Much of the investment and growth has come from JLR, which employs 21,000 staff in the UK.

JLR has been turned around under Tata after it tried to seek financial assistance from the Labour government in 2009 and was rejected.

JLR sold 243,621 cars in the year to March 31, 2011. But it is thought to have sold more than 300,000 in the last 12 months. In March, JLR reported its best-ever month, with more than 45,000 cars sold and year-on-year sales growth of 40pc.

To keep up with demand, JLR is looking to expand all three of its UK plants at Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull and is building a new engine factory in Wolverhampton. The car maker also plans to produce cars in China for the domestic market.

JLR insiders believe the company could eventually produce 500,000 cars a year.

A source close to the company said JLR plans to "sweat" its UK sites over the next 18 months for extra capacity before exploring the potential for a new car plant in the country.